Skip to main content
Log in

Generating test programs from syntax

  • Published:
Computing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

The many faces of programming and systems development demand an immense amount of mechanical routine work. The present paper tries to explain some areas where automation of many tasks may be of great help. One special area, where progress seems to lag behind unduly, can be found in debugging, testing, and diagnosing systems. Here we attempted the generation of programs automatically from a definition of a problem and the characteristics of programs for its solution by a software system, which has been specially designed for this purpose. It has been indicated how the ideas underlying this project may be applied successfully to other areas.

Zusammenfassung

Bei der Programmierung und Systementwicklung wird zu einem erheblichen Umfang mechanische Routinearbeit erfordert. Der vorliegende Beitrag grenzt verschiedene Gebiete ab, wo mehrere Aufgabenlösungen automatisiert werden können. Ein Spezialgebiet, in welchem die Techniken auf niedrigem Stand zurückgeblieben scheinen, findet sich im Analysieren und Ausprüfen von Systemprogrammen. Hier haben wir versucht, Programme durch ein System automatisch zu erzeugen, ausgehend von einer Definition des Problems und den Charakteristiken seiner Lösung. Dieses System war zu diesem Zweck entwickelt worden. Ferner wird angedeutet, wie die Ideen, auf denen dieser Beitrag beruht, auf andere Gebiete erfolgreich angewendet werden können.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Madden, D.: Prologue to Session 1 at the FJCC 1965, AFIPS Conf. Proc.27, II (1966).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Jacoby, K. andH. Layton: Automation of Program Debugging, Proc. 16th ACM Conference, 12C-2 (1961).

  3. Orchard-Hays, W.: The Evolution of Programming Systems, Proc. IRE49, 283–295 (1961).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Burkhardt, W. H.: The SELF Program Generating System, Centre d'Etudes et Recherches, La Gaude AM, France, Internal Report, Nov. 1962.

  5. Sauder, R. L.: A General Test Data Generator for COBOL, AFIPS Proc. SJCC23, 317–323 (1962).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Milewski, A. T.: A Syntax Defining Notation and Decomposition Algorithm, Centre d'Etudes et Recherches, La Gaude AM, France, Internal Report, May 1963.

  7. Cheatham, T. E. andK. Sattley: Syntax Directed Compiling, AFIPS Proc. SJCC25, 31–57 (1964).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Barnett, M. P.: Continued Operation Notation for Symbol Manipulation and Array Processing, Comm. ACM6, 467–472 (1963).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Chomsky, N. andG. A. Miller: Handbook of Mathematical Psychology, Vol. II, p. 286. New York: Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1963.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Chomsky, N. andG. A. Miller: Finite State Languages, Inform. Contr.1, 91 (1958).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Barnett, M. P. andR. P. Futrelle: Syntactic Analysis by Digital Computer, Comm. ACM10, 515–525 (1962).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Irons, E. T.: A Syntax Directed Compiler for ALGOL 60, Comm. ACM4, 51–54 (1961).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Iverson, K. E.: A Method of Syntax Specification, Comm. ACM7, 588–589 (1964).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Schorre, D. V.: A Syntax Oriented Compiler Writing Language, Proc. 19th ACM Conference, Dl. 3 (1964).

  15. Feldman, J. A.: A Formal Semantics for Programming Languages, IFIP Proc. 65 Congr. Vol. II, p. 435–436 (1966).

    Google Scholar 

  16. Anderson, H. E.: Automated Plotting of Flowcharts on a Small Computer, Comm. ACM8, 38 (1965).

    Google Scholar 

  17. Kilgore, G. L. andR. E. Hohmeyer: A New Technique for Testing of Programs for Process Control Computers, 1965 IEEE International Convention Record13, 256–260 (1965).

    Google Scholar 

  18. Taylor, W., L. Turner, andR. Waychoff: A Syntactical Chart of ALGOL 60, Comm. ACM4, 393 (1961).

    Google Scholar 

  19. Burkhardt, W. H.: Automatic Generation of a Basic Set of Programs, Report P 1124, IBM Company, Poughkeepsie, March 1964.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Additional information

With 18 Figures

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Burkhardt, W.H. Generating test programs from syntax. Computing 2, 53–73 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02235512

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02235512

Keywords

Navigation